This article focuses on the importance of the social partners in new labour law regulation where there is a weak parliamentary majority. The prevailing view in Sweden is that labour law regulation must be modernised as both companies and employees need improved opportunities in order to be able to adapt to changing conditions in the labour market. A Government inquiry and negotiations between the social partners in the private sector focused on these issues. The social partners reached two agreements: a Principle Agreement, including demands that the state provide new labour law regulation; and a Basic Agreement, which is a collective agreement about security, transition and employment protection. The Swedish Government decided to modernise the Swedish Employment Protection Act (LAS)¹ in line with the social partners’ suggestions. The government proposal covers three important labour law areas: (1) changes to the Swedish Employment Protection Act; (2) new state-financed public support for skills development; and (3) a new public transition organisation to provide basic transition support for employees not covered by a collective agreement. This article shows that the social partners have great power over new legislation and can create stability in labour law regulation in Sweden for the future. The government’s proposal implies that new regulation has moved from the provision of employment protection depending on length of service to better transition conditions for employees, and that the state is to take financial responsibility for the lifelong learning of professionals.

本文重点讨论社会伙伴在议会多数偏弱的新劳动法规定中的重要性。瑞典的普遍观点是，劳动法监管必须现代化，因为公司和员工都需要改善机会，以便能够适应劳动力市场不断变化的条件。私营部门的社会伙伴之间的政府调查和谈判侧重于这些问题。社会伙伴达成了两项协议：一项原则协议，包括要求国家提供新的劳动法规；基本协议，这是关于安全、过渡和就业保护的集体协议。瑞典政府决定对瑞典就业保护法 (LAS) ^{1进行现代化改造}符合社会伙伴的建议。政府提案涵盖三个重要的劳动法领域：（1）修改瑞典就业保护法；(2) 新的国家资助的技能发展公共支持；(3) 一个新的公共过渡组织，为集体协议未涵盖的员工提供基本的过渡支持。本文表明，社会伙伴对新立法拥有巨大的权力，可以为瑞典的劳动法监管创造稳定的未来。政府的提议意味着新规定已经从根据工龄提供就业保护转变为为员工提供更好的过渡条件，并且国家将承担专业人员终身学习的财政责任。